Annual membership 2018/19 now due

CAAC Paps II – The Sequel aka 'Fletch Lives'. 17/08/2011 @ 7pm

#000000;">#ff0000;">HERE IS WHERE TO MEET >> http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5012432

Now that the Tour , Devil of the Highlands & most of the Bog & Burn mid-week races etc.are almost out of the way , it is time to focus on the 2nd (of the previously successful ) CAAC paps races.

Planned to take place on Wednesday 17th August @ 7pmand will start and finish at SpylawPark. Entrants need be 18 or older. Prizes and social drinks ( a stone’s throw away at the Spylaw Tavern – which will be OPEN !)

The run will be a mixture of road & trail , with 8 checkpoints to visit . Approx 10k . All good clean fun . Last event was an all- male affair , but hopefully some of the senior ladies can come along this time & enjoy
Maps will be provided at start , but can all runners bring a pen /pencil for taking a note of each checkpoint code. Maybe a suggestion that BC brings a mobile phone or other GPStracking device ( just in case ;-)
Road shoes with a good tread or Trail shoes are recommended .

The Race start will either be a group start or individuals set off in 1 min intervals ( depending on total numbers involved ) – Running time approx 50-75 mins , depending on route choice.

#000000;">#afeeee;">MEET BY THE P (for parking). Its the car park just down off the bridge along from Spylaw Park, otherwise accesible via a 5km run from Slateford and just after the old railway tunnel!

#00ffff">Just a final reminder about THIS Wednesday&#39;s Race ( details above )

#00ffff">Can you let either myself or Chris know by tomorrow night if you are coming along & have not intimated your interest already .

#00ffff">If everyone could be there for a quick briefing & a 7pm Start , we aim to get everyone round the course & into the Spylaw Tavern by 8.30pm latest for some Sandwiches ( & Prizegiving ! )

Chris & I ran the course last Wed & reckon that due to the recent wet weather , Trail Shoes are the order of the day.
(can you dress for the weather also - Looks as though we should be ok on Wed - Dry sunny afternoon , light showers 5-6pm , then dry 7pm , but if wet at start , we may insist you carry a light waterproof - Elf & Safety )

A great run in the hills! Thanks Graeme and Chris for a very thorough organisation. You introduced me to parts of the Pentlands even I have never seen in 20 years here.
Please can we have a bit less marking tape next time - or ideally none. You destroyed my only advantage over the others who can actually run fast. ;)

Another classic, this time Graeme Fletcher created a course which whilst being over known ground for most definitely was not the commonly used path. The event was so well organised that there was even a Health & Safety briefing, though the contents essentially asked for noone to sacrifice themselves on the City Bypass!
Graeme, MartinH, JohnO and Nick got out on the course whilst Susan, Moray and I held station at the start/finish. The start was measured, everyone behind a random line of cobbles then race forward and pick up a map of the course, armed with a map and a pen then RUN!

After a flurry of action and orientation they were out of our sights, and a phonecall 15minutes later confirmed all had passed through checkpoint 1 barring Bryan &#39;The Human Compass&#39; Clark. On summary Grant, James and BC had made off at a great pace along the Water of Leith, James in the lead realising he was heading wrong turned 180 this was a pivotal moment. BC kept running, Grant thought for a split second who to follow and without knowing James very well immediately mimiced his action and spun round to follow - that was the last known whereabouts of our main man.

Next radio crackle was from the top of White Hill at checkpoint 7. Again all had negotiated the route bar the 1, here Keith being so excited had skipped over the stile at CP6 and didnt record his code so had to do the CP6>CP7 traverse all over again.
At homebase Susan, Moray and I survived the midge swarm and were thoroughly entertained to see JH appear over the bridge above the cycle path looking a clear winner only to then see Alex using all his savvy and popping out from under the bridge. It was an all out sprint for the line, James taking it just. Grant closely followed and was good enough to tip a hat to to the two he had followed all the way. The next battle was only seconds away with Tim holding off Scott for the 4th place or so we thought. In a canny move Tim had memorised the last 3 checkpoint codes and committed these to the map as he finished, unfortunately adrenalin kills the brain and only one code stuck correctly. A 4minute penalty ensured Williamson had taken 4th at a canter!

After the front of the race being so tight we didnt know what to expect but Chris Peggie did, he came barrelling out from under the bridge with 3 V50&#39;s on his tail. The new sub 40minute hero had enough to keep them there. Ken Stewart and Graham McLean finished one after another. Graham looking stronger and stronger every time i see him run. The suprise for me was to see MartinC put to the sword by this duo, he was my secret favourite for the race after his superb showing at the first race finishing only second to a determined Tommo then. I think he was undone by &#39;Too much tape&#39; and good visibility and im sure he&#39;ll be right back up there again.

We had guesstimated the time after a recce last week to be around 50mins and the winner was bang on, next marker in the sand was the 60min mark and Paul the only man to wear his CAAC colours with pride stormed in to put the hour barrier to the sword. He should have been glad to be alone as the next three appeared to be out for a stroll coming in holding hands, apparently lots of quarters were given and many pleases and thank yous were shared - as they did pens. However a finish line brings out the &#39;best&#39; in a runner and apparently Dave Henderson started to wind it up with half a mile to go, Dean and Keith forever polite stuck true to to their Gentleman&#39;s agreement however on appearing from the steps under the bridge the blue touch paper was lit and there was a full out rammy! Not standing directly on the line myself i was unable to call it, thankfully Susan and Moray keeping order were - it was a dead heat and on further scrutinisation of no photograph finish the result remained the same.

I got a little concerned after that as we&#39;d thrown Mickey a Dumfries man into his first foray with the Pentlands, where was he? Nothing to worry about though after negotiating the side streets of Colinton and with Shaun hot his heels bursting with local knowledge the duo appeared into the finish with not more than a couple of minutes between them.

BC? He apparently sneaked in around about the 65min mark after collecting 0 checkpoints ...

The real race to the Spylaw Tavern for post race analysis, sandwiches, beer and the prizegiving was started by Moray with the emphatic use of a CAAC flag!

With no women running :( we rejigged the categories a little. James Harrison taking the overall win, Ken Stewart beating Graham McLean by 4s to take the V50 prize and Bryan Clark winning a prize for last place - the reward being something we should have maybe equipped him with beforehand, a headtorch. The main prize of the day however was the spot prize, which was chosen by Graeme closing his eyes and wielding a biro lid in the direction of a piece of paper. Keith Hood was the well deserving winner of this!
Thoroughly enjoyed myself, the last of three CAAC PAP&#39;s races for this year is the Down&#39;N&#39;Up scheduled for the morning of the 24th of December at 9am. Perfect for shaking off those Xmas Party hangovers and partaking in some lycra clad aerobics to get you going.

There appears to be great appetite for these so i think i may try to extend the offering to 6 races or similar next year.. Thanks for coming all and cheers to the help out on the course.

Was greast fun watching the event from the top of White Hill while marshelling checkpoint 7, with people appearing from all directions through the woods, Keith in particular appearing from the strangest of directions and having to head back to pick up checkpoint 7.
A brilliant choosen course by Graeme and Cob, and quite the surprise as I expected most of the race to on the WoL walk way and surrounds and not venture so far beyond the Bypass. Really wish I&#39;d been able to run it!
The midges where hell as there was little wind and I&#39;ve been clawing my legs for the last couple days as a result. Walking back round the course to collect the tape and markers I definitely agree the course was too well marked, any more and it&#39;d have been a follow the line XC race and not a hill race. I say that despite BC getting lost as he&#39;d still have gotten lost no matter now much or little tape there was, having previously gotten lost on the 2nd lap of ToF XC race! :-P With less tape slightly more navigation would have been required which tends to level the field a bit more. Brilliant maps produced by Cob merging an OS map with A-Z street guide, never seen that done before. http://opencyclemap.org/?zoom=15&lat=55.89448&lon=-3.26112&layers=B0 is also a great source for maps that combine both roads and paths with contours etc. Might be of use in the future. As might the brilliant http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php which combines OS, Google and OSMCycle maps into one very useful route plotting tool.